Choose fully ripe, small
olives for dry salt-curing. Remove and discard any stems that are still
attached. Rinse the olives clean with water and drain them well in a colander. With the tip of a sharp paring knife make a slit in each olive.

Glass Jar or Crock Method

Spread a 1/4-inch thick
layer of canning/pickling salt over the bottom of a large half gallon glass jar or ceramic crock. Add a
layer of olives on top of the salt.

It's okay if the layer is
2 olives deep, but it shouldn't be more than that. Cover the layer of olives
with more salt. Add another layer of olives. Repeat until all the olives are
completely covered in salt.

Leave at room temperature,
stirring the olives or shaking the jar once a day and adding more salt if
necessary to keep the olives covered.

The olives will start to
exude their bitter juices and the salt will turn into a moist paste. If it
becomes totally liquid, drain the olives and return them to the container with
fresh layers of salt.

Salt is pinkish/purple from the liquids leaching from the olives.

After 3 weeks , rinse the salt off of an olive and taste it. If it is still
too bitter, continue to cure the olives, adding salt to absorb the juices, and
testing the flavor about once a week.

4 weeks in salt cure! Perfect taste and texture!

When ready, olives cured
by the dry salt method will have shriveled up and have a very mildly bitter but
pleasant flavor. Once the olives have reached that stage, brush off or very
quickly rinse off the salt. If you rinse, spread the olives out in a single
layer and let them dry off completely before proceeding. This can take several
hours (overnight is fine).

Toss the cured olives with
1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil. Store at room temperature for up to 1
month, in the refrigerator for up to 6 months, or in the freezer for up to a
year.

Salt Cured Olives in Extra Virgin Olive Oil

These olives will have a
salty flavor so if you are not used to this type of olive you might want to try
a salt/water curing which I will complete next.

I am the most amazed at
how tasty these olives are and will be so good in salad and with an appetizer
plate over the holidays!

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Altitude Adjustments

The gel point method is also noted in many cookbooks and is a process to test the gel of a jam, jelly or preserve. There are two methods of testing using a spoon or a plate.

SHEET TEST

Dip a cold metal spoon into the boiling soft spread. Lift the spoon and hold it horizontally with edge down so that the syrup runs off the edge. As the mixture cooks, the drops will become heavier and will drop off the spoon separately but two at a time. When the two drops join together and “sheet” off the spoon, the gel stage has been reached.

FREEZER TEST

Chill a small saucers in the freezer. Place a teaspoonful of soft spread on the chilled saucer and place in the freezer for 1 minute. Remove the saucer from the freezer and push the edge of the spread with your finger. A mixture that has reached the gel stage will be set, and the surface will wrinkle when the edge is pushed.